Brisbane 2013

Australia and Kuala Lumpur October / November 2013

2013 found us on our way back to Australia, this time via Kuala Lumpur. I arranged the trip with AusTravel. I had visited KL on an earlier stopover but this was Jonathon's first time. From there we went to Brisbane, Tasmania, Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road. Please click below to go to the relevant pages.

Christine kindly dropped us off at Central Station and we took the direct train to the airport - very easy. I'd had a call the night before from Brisbane airport to say our bags had arrived and where were we! A bit of a surprise as we thought the bags would travel on the same plane as us but apparently not. At least we knew they'd arrived.

Rhondda met us at the airport and after a good night's sleep, we started the Brisbane part of our trip.

rhondda

We spent the first day in Brisbane, exploring the city centre and the Southbank. We didn't take a tour bus as we had our tour guide with us!

One thing that caught our eye was this butterfly wall.

In the square in front of The Treasury, there were some artisitic balls that were just crying out to be photographed.

balls

The Treasury is not what it seems - it is a casino.

Over to the Southbank - a lovely area (we didn't go on the wheel). Jonathon enjoyed trying to spot this Noisy Minah bird on the way in.

bird

plants

This walkway was beautiful and there were plenty of other pretty plants to admire as we walked along.

r&j

Jonathon was very busy teaching Rhonnda about laminar water flow!

We had a quick bite to eat at the food court and decided the pigeons at home weren't quite so bad when you compared them to the Ibises that wanted to share our dinner - there were loads of them.

southbank

Water near the wheel

southbank

Street art (pavement)

police

The police were trialling these segways as a means of getting around.

Back across the water using the CityCat (having got off the first one as we were going the wrong way!). We arrived at Eagle Street Pier and this bird posed nicely for us.

bridge

The Story Bridge, the largest steel bridge designed, fabricated and constructed in Australia by Australians, was just over the water from the pier.

Story Bridge opened for operation on 6 July 1940. It took 5 years to build. One of the major reasons for building the Story Bridge was employment. During the Great Depression, the construction effort provided years of employment for many men as one of the then government's three public works projects.

We went back to Dean's by train the Rhondda and I took Dallas for a walk whilst Jonathon had a little doze. Rhondda and Jonathon then went to the local shopping centre to get Rhondda's watch fixed while I had a doze and a play with Dallas (lovely dog!)

Dinner was at Efes One in Brisbane - a really nice Turkish restaurant and Bobby, the waiter, was really helpful and friendly.

Finally it was time for bed.

Wednesday dawned bright and clear (and warm) and Rhondda took us up to Mount Coot-tha Forest to a view point to look back across Brisbane. It was an interesting drive, initially through the Brisbane area and then up through the forest to the top.

We even took each others' photos at the top.

"You're blocking the view", our photographer said, so we moved aside!

Home, washing, an early dinner at the local Sizzlers and bed. The end of another lovely day.

Thursday came along and we went to visit the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Not quite what we expected as a lot of the creatures were in "cages" but we had a look around and then enjoyed the birds of prey show.

First the Koalas - what the sanctuary is all about. They have various enclosures for the Koala - Retirement Home, Kindergarten and all sorts in between.

kangaroo

There was a field type enclosure for the Kangaroos where we could walk about. We didn't buy any kangaroo food but others had done and the roos were not at all fazed by humans.

There were various lizard type creatures either strolling around the park or in the reptile house.

lizard

If it gets too hot, you can always cool off in a water bowl.

There were also a few snakes in the reptile house and turtles in a pond.

There was also a variety of birds enjoying the park.

The best part of the visit was seeing the birds of prey.

kite

These two are diurnal birds whereas the owls are nocturnal.

The barn owls were the postal owls in Harry Potter (I wouldn't have recognised them but I'm not good at star spotting).

owl

Normally they seem to have their eyes open like this one but the Barking Owl on the left was very busy trying to work out what her reflection was in my camera lens (I think).

bbq

Finally, home to relax and then a BBQ for tea.

That was it for our stay in Brisbane. Rhondda dropped us at Brisbane airport early the next morning and off we went to Tasmania.

Australia and Kuala Lumpur October / November 2013
2013 found us on our way back to Australia, this time via Kuala Lumpur. I arranged the trip with AusTravel. I had visited KL on an earlier stopover but this was Jonathon's first time. From there we went to Brisbane, Tasmania, Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road. Please click below to go to the relevant pages.
Kuala Lumpur Brisbane	Hobart Freycinet Launceston	Melbourne Great Ocean Road - page 1 Great Ocean Road - page 2
Christine kindly dropped us off at Central Station and we took the direct train to the airport - very easy. I'd had a call the night before from Brisbane airport to say our bags had arrived and where were we! A bit of a surprise as we thought the bags would travel on the same plane as us but apparently not. At least we knew they'd arrived. Rhondda met us at the airport and after a good night's sleep, we started the Brisbane part of our trip.
		We spent the first day in Brisbane, exploring the city centre and the Southbank. We didn't take a tour bus as we had our tour guide with us!


One thing that caught our eye was this butterfly wall.



		In the square in front of The Treasury, there were some artisitic balls that were just crying out to be photographed.

The Treasury is not what it seems - it is a casino.

Over to the Southbank - a lovely area (we didn't go on the wheel). Jonathon enjoyed trying to spot this Noisy Minah bird on the way in.
		This walkway was beautiful and there were plenty of other pretty plants to admire as we walked along.
		Jonathon was very busy teaching Rhonnda about laminar water flow!




We had a quick bite to eat at the food court and decided the pigeons at home weren't quite so bad when you compared them to the Ibises that wanted to share our dinner - there were loads of them.

Water near the wheel	Street art (pavement)	Seat backs
		The police were trialling these segways as a means of getting around.
	Back across the water using the CityCat (having got off the first one as we were going the wrong way!). We arrived at Eagle Street Pier and this bird posed nicely for us.

The Story Bridge, the largest steel bridge designed, fabricated and constructed in Australia by Australians, was just over the water from the pier. Story Bridge opened for operation on 6 July 1940. It took 5 years to build. One of the major reasons for building the Story Bridge was employment. During the Great Depression, the construction effort provided years of employment for many men as one of the then government's three public works projects.
		We went back to Dean's by train the Rhondda and I took Dallas for a walk whilst Jonathon had a little doze. Rhondda and Jonathon then went to the local shopping centre to get Rhondda's watch fixed while I had a doze and a play with Dallas (lovely dog!)
Dinner was at Efes One in Brisbane - a really nice Turkish restaurant and Bobby, the waiter, was really helpful and friendly. Finally it was time for bed.
Wednesday dawned bright and clear (and warm) and Rhondda took us up to Mount Coot-tha Forest to a view point to look back across Brisbane. It was an interesting drive, initially through the Brisbane area and then up through the forest to the top.


	We even took each others' photos at the top.
		"You're blocking the view", our photographer said, so we moved aside!
Home, washing, an early dinner at the local Sizzlers and bed. The end of another lovely day.	Thursday came along and we went to visit the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Not quite what we expected as a lot of the creatures were in "cages" but we had a look around and then enjoyed the birds of prey show.
		First the Koalas - what the sanctuary is all about. They have various enclosures for the Koala - Retirement Home, Kindergarten and all sorts in between.



		There was a field type enclosure for the Kangaroos where we could walk about. We didn't buy any kangaroo food but others had done and the roos were not at all fazed by humans.



There were various lizard type creatures either strolling around the park or in the reptile house.

If it gets too hot, you can always cool off in a water bowl.


There were also a few snakes in the reptile house and turtles in a pond.

	There was also a variety of birds enjoying the park.


The best part of the visit was seeing the birds of prey.

		These two are diurnal birds whereas the owls are nocturnal.
	The barn owls were the postal owls in Harry Potter (I wouldn't have recognised them but I'm not good at star spotting).
		Normally they seem to have their eyes open like this one but the Barking Owl on the left was very busy trying to work out what her reflection was in my camera lens (I think).
		Finally, home to relax and then a BBQ for tea.
That was it for our stay in Brisbane. Rhondda dropped us at Brisbane airport early the next morning and off we went to Tasmania.
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